Dump out the coffee cans, car ashtrays and the bottom of your purse. The lowly penny, which almost was taken out of circulation three years ago, is making a comeback as the recession puts a crimp in back-to-school sales.

Spiral notebooks, batteries, markers, crayons, pencils and even some clothing are just a few of the items going for 1 cent these days. The gimmick is gaining traction as merchants try to attract penny-pinching consumers with deals.

“You're playing into the consumer psyche, which is already delicate as it is,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm. “Buy one, get one free has been around so long, it doesn't even make a noise. Buy one, get one for a penny feels like a deal.”

The penny bargains come amid expectations for a grim back-to-school selling season. Citigroup Global Markets predicts this will be the first year back-to-school sales will decline since at least 1995.

Back-to-school shopping typically spans July, August and early September. It ranks as the retail industry's biggest revenue period after the holiday season. And many analysts consider it a harbinger of holiday sales.

With back-to-school shopping budgets shrinking and families putting off all but the most essential purchases until after school begins, the race to grab shoppers' attention is intense.

Staples and OfficeMax have led the charge with penny promotions that change weekly. So far, OfficeMax has sold highlighters, crayons, sharpeners, paper folders and spiral notebooks. Staples has offered pencils, printer paper, lined filler paper and spiral notebooks.

The office-supply chain stores, which count back-to-school as their biggest selling season, have latched onto penny promotions as drugstores and dollar stores expand onto their turf.

CVS, for example, has giant cardboard cutouts of scissors and staplers and thumbtacks hanging above the school supplies aisle touting “back-to-school savings.” Yellow cardboard bins are stuffed with an array of quirky and useful items for $1 each, from paper clips shaped like cows to packages of miniature highlighters.

“Retailers are trying to stimulate demand,” said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at Retail Systems Research, a retail consulting firm in Miami. “This is about getting people into the store. If you also end up buying ink refill for your printer, the retailer has made back the money.”

The problem for retailers is shoppers have become so savvy about prices that taking a loss on one item to make it back on others is getting to be a risky strategy, Rosenblum said.

Staples was one of the first retailers to resurrect the penny for back-to-school shopping in 2006 after finding selling supplies for a dime or a quarter for a limited time sparked sales activity the year before. The promotion gained steam when the recession set in and is now a hallmark of the retailer's July and August selling period.

“This is the only time of year we do a penny,” said Don LeBlanc, senior vice president of retail marketing for Staples. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people out there fighting for back-to-school business. Drugstores. Discount stores. We needed a way to get the word out and break through the clutter. It doesn't matter what the item is. One penny is a great deal.”